Most people believe the Passover is a Jewish holiday that's celebrated annually in the early springtime. For many Jews, Passover is merely an historical event they celebrate to remember their ancestors who God miraculously freed from slavery in ancient Egypt.
While the Lord indeed liberated the Jews from the heavy hand of Pharoah who was the tyrannical ruler of Egypt, the Passover was meant to be remembered for much more than just an historical event. It was meant to convey God's free gift of salvation to the world through His Son Jesus Christ.
First of all, what is the Passover? The Passover literally means what it says: To pass-over. The ancient Jews were commanded by God to sacrifice one-year-old male lambs without defect, and to sprinkle some of the blood from the animals above and along the sides of their door-frames. Thus, when the angel of Lord came into Egypt at night during this event, he passed-over the homes that had the blood on the doors.
However, he entered the homes without the blood on the doors and he struck down the firstborn in those households. And so, the ancient Jews who obeyed the Lord by sprinkling the blood of the lambs on their door-frames were spared the death of their firstborn.
Does that sound familiar? It should. That was a foreshadow of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ, who shed His blood on the cross to cleanse us from our sins and bless us with eternal life. As John the Baptist said: "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." (John 1:29)
All those who confess Christ as their Lord and Savior are protected by His blood and they will not suffer the damnation of eternal death in hell when they die.
There's more to the Passover story. The Jews were commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days after the Passover. This is known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. What's the significance of the unleavened bread?
The unleavened bread resembles a large cracker that's made without yeast. Yeast makes bread rise and the symbolism here can't be ignored. The unleavened bread symbolizes God's pure law. When man adds to that law, it causes it to expand into something it was never intended to be.
For example, throughout the centuries the rabbis have added 600 of their own laws into God's Law, making it so enormous that no one could possibly remember all those laws, much less keep them. By adding to God's Law, the rabbis violated God's edict not to add or subtract to the law. (Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32)
When Christ warned his disciples: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees", (Matthew 16:6) He was speaking of their manufactured laws and false doctrines that they frequently injected into God's Law to pervert it and expand it well beyond its intended meaning.
Christ blasted Israel's corrupt religious leaders with this: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." (Matthew 23:2-4)
There's certainly more to the Passover story than the paschal lamb and unleavened bread. The Jews were commanded to roast the lamb over fire and to eat it before the dawn of the following day. They also ate bitter herbs and were told to be ready to leave Egypt by dawn.
The roasted lamb represents Christ's body sacrificed on the cross for the sins of the world. That symbolizes those who receive God's Holy Spirit in them as the guarantee of eternal life through their genuine confession of Christ as Lord and Savior. The bitter herbs represent the pain of persecution that everyone who belongs to Christ will experience in this world.
And the Jews were commanded by God not to leave any leftovers for the following day after the Passover. This teaches us that when Christ returns to judge the world and establish His kingdom on earth, there will be no more chances to get right with God. The old order of things will have passed away forever.
That's why it's important for everyone to accept God's Passover Lamb Jesus Christ right now before He returns. If you die outside of Christ, you will never get another chance. You'll be doomed forever. If you're around when He returns, it'll be too late.
As the apostle Paul stated: "Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (1 Corinthians 5:7)
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